Coffee Maker With Rotating Brewing Chamber
A coffee maker includes an injection needle producing a dispersed spray and a rotating brewing chamber. The brewing chamber may include rollers for rotating a brewing cartridge and a centered extraction needle, or may include a rotating cradle including one or more offset extraction needles. The injection needle includes radially oriented ports providing the dispersed spray into the cartridge interior. As the cartridge is rotated, the dispersed spray prevents or reduces the formation of channels or clumping of the brewing material thus providing better extraction of brewed beverage from the brewing material.
The present application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/251,568 filed Nov. 5, 2015, which application is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to beverage brewing and in particular to a rotating water dispersion into a brewing chamber.
Brewed beverages are often prepared by injecting water into a brewing chamber containing a brewing material such as ground coffee beans. Various configurations are known including inserting a needle into the brewing material, streams of water injected down into the brewing material. Unfortunately, water released or sprayed into the brewing material may form channels or packets, and the brewed beverage is not uniformly extracted from the brewing material.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a coffee maker which includes an injection needle producing a dispersed spray and a rotating brewing chamber. The brewing chamber may include rollers for rotating a brewing cartridge and a centered extraction needle, or may include a rotating cradle including one or more offset extraction needles. The injection needle includes radially oriented ports providing the dispersed spray into the cartridge interior. As the cartridge is rotated, the dispersed spray prevents or reduces the formation of channels or clumping of the brewing material thus providing better extraction of brewed beverage from the brewing material.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.
Where the terms “about” or “generally” are associated with an element of the invention, it is intended to describe a feature's appearance to the human eye or human perception, and not a precise measurement.
A front view of a coffee maker 10 according to the present invention is shown in
A side view of the coffee maker 10 with an open lid 14 allowing placement of a brewing cartridge 30 according to the present invention inside a brewing chamber 29 of the coffee maker 10 is shown in
A functional diagram of the coffee maker 10 is shown in
The brewing chamber 29 is preferably configured to accept a sealed brewing cartridge sold under the trademark K-CUP which include a top puncture needle for injecting pressurized water into the brewing cartridge, and a bottom puncture needle for puncturing the brewing cartridge to release brewed beverage. Such brewing cartridges are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,765, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A top portion of a coffee maker 10a including a motor 40a in the lid 14 for rotating the brewing cartridge 30 is shown in
An injection needle 19 having a plurality of dispersion ports 19′ is shown in
A coffee maker 10c including at least one motor 40b connected to the rollers 42 is shown in
A coffee maker 10d including a motor 40c rotating to a cradle 44 holding the brewing cartridge 30 is shown in
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A coffee maker comprising:
- a water supply;
- a pump in fluid communication with the water supply;
- a brewing chamber;
- a lid closable on the brewing chamber;
- a rotationally fixed injection needle attached to the lid and in fluid communication with the pump and configured to puncture a brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber when the lid is closed;
- ports in sides of the injection needle in fluid communication with the interior of the injection needle;
- a motor rotationally couples to rotate the brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber; and
- a bottom extraction needle residing in the brewing chamber and configured to puncture the brewing cartridge.
2. The coffee maker of claim 1, wherein:
- the bottom extraction needle is centered in the bottom of the brewing chamber;
- the brewing chamber includes rollers allowing a brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber to rotate; and
- the motor resides in the lid and is configured to couple to the brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber to rotate the brewing cartridge during brewing.
3. The coffee maker of claim 2, wherein the motor rotates a pad surrounding the fixed injection needle, and the pad rests against the brewing cartridge to rotate the brewing cartridge.
4. The coffee maker of claim 1, wherein:
- the bottom extraction needle is centered in the bottom of the brewing chamber;
- the brewing chamber includes rollers allowing a brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber to rotate; and
- the motor resides beside the brewing chamber and is configured to rotate at least one of the rollers to rotate the brewing cartridge during brewing.
5. The coffee maker of claim 4, wherein the rollers are frustoconical in shape.
6. The coffee maker of claim 1, wherein:
- a cradle resides in the brewing chamber, rotatable about a vertical centerline, and configured to carry a brewing cartridge;
- the bottom extraction needle is attached to the bottom of the cradle; and
- the motor rotates the cradle.
7. The coffee maker of claim 6, wherein the bottom extraction needle is laterally offset.
8. A coffee maker comprising:
- a water supply;
- a pump in fluid communication with the water supply;
- a brewing chamber including rollers allowing a brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber to rotate about a vertical centerline;
- a lid closable on the brewing chamber;
- a rotationally fixed injection needle attached to the lid and in fluid communication with the pump and configured to puncture the brewing cartridge when the lid is closed;
- ports in sides of the injection needle in fluid communication with the interior of the injection needle;
- a motor residing in the lid and rotationally coupled to the brewing cartridge to rotate the brewing cartridge residing in the brewing chamber; and
- a bottom extraction needle residing centered in the brewing chamber and configured to puncture the brewing cartridge.
9. A coffee maker comprising:
- a water supply;
- a pump in fluid communication with the water supply;
- a brewing chamber;
- a cradle residing in the brewing chamber, rotatable about a vertical centerline, and configured to carry a brewing cartridge;
- a lid closable on the brewing chamber;
- a rotationally fixed injection needle attached to the lid and in fluid communication with the pump and configured to puncture the brewing cartridge when the lid is closed;
- ports in sides of the injection needle in fluid communication with the interior of the injection needle;
- a motor rotationally coupled to rotate the cradle; and
- a bottom extraction needle attached to the cradle and configured to puncture the brewing cartridge.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 7, 2016
Publication Date: May 11, 2017
Patent Grant number: 10455972
Inventor: Adrian Rivera (Whittier, CA)
Application Number: 15/345,056